A critical issue with almost all aspects of computer system and mobile electronic device use, including portable memory storage, is security. This also applies to electronic products containing memory storage as an integral part of the design. For example, digital cameras, MP3 players, smart phones, palm computers, gaming devices, etc., that may have confidential information residing in memory. Whether it is an email account, financial information or corporate data, a user must be authenticated in order to gain access to this information.
Encryption is typically the means to hide sensitive information. It is a complex process that hides data so that it cannot be interpreted until a correct decryption key is used to decode the data. A computer is generally used to access data in internal as well as external mass storage devices. Data is encrypted prior to storing and decrypted upon retrieval.
Encryption, provided by a computer, consumes system resources whether the encryption is applied to internal or external storage devices. Thus, the computer requires higher performance hardware to reduce system burden. A better solution is to put the burden of encryption on the mass storage device to free up computer resources. It then becomes a simple matter of connecting the mass storage device to the computer with no complex formatting and partitioning required on the computer end.
There are few self-encrypting mass storage devices on the market. If a user already has a mass storage device, the user must either purchase a new self-encrypting drive or purchase encryption software for the user's computer. Self-encrypting drives are typically more expensive than their non-encrypting counterparts.
An encryption bridge may be used to connect a computer with an external mass storage device reduces the burden on computer resources and is more cost effective than purchasing multiple self-encrypting drives but allows access to secured data just by having possession of the encryption bridge.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.